Woodbine: Avie's Quality shows newfound maturity in Display Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Favored Avie’s Quality beat a quality field of 2-year-olds Saturday at Woodbine in the $150,800 Display Stakes, in a rapid time of 1:43.25 for the mile and a sixteenth.

Clearly Now set lively fractions of 24.13 and 48.10 seconds, with longshot Hey You Pick Me in close proximity. Avie’s Quality raced in mid-pack on the backstretch, and then rallied two-wide into contention on the far turn en route to a length and a quarter tally over a determined My Name Is Michael.

Clearly Now faded in the final furlong to finish another four lengths back in third, and Really Sharp was fourth in the 10-horse field.

Luis Contreras rode Avie’s Quality for trainer Josie Carroll, who said the son of Elusive Quality and Grade 1 winner Fly for Avie has been slow to come around.

“He’s always been kind of the class clown,” said Carroll. “He’s just now starting to figure things out.”